“The United States does not appear at risk of widespread political violence anytime soon. But Trump’s words are still corroding democracy and public safety.” Many people try to make excuses for his abhorrent words, “but they do matter. The president’s continued encouragement of violence—and of white nationalism—is part of the reason that white-nationalist violence is increasing.”

“Thursday’s about-face sounded alarms about a global slowdown that caught officials off guard.” On Thursday, the ECB “unveiled a new economic rescue package, citing a darkening outlook driven by a slowdown in China, fears that the United Kingdom will make a chaotic exit from the European Union and aftershocks from President Trump’s tariff wars.”

The submission of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “long-awaited final report…will be only the start of an explosive chain of events. There will be a struggle in Congress, on cable TV and social media and probably in the courts over how much must be disclosed. There also will be an epic political fight over whether the findings implicate President Donald Trump in wrongdoing that may even merit his impeachment.”

The lack of an agreement with North Korea, as well as Trump’s other disappointments are dimming “the mystique central to his political appeal as an instinctive deal maker who can get his way through bluffing, charm and lightning business reflexes.” The reality couldn’t be more different. “In fact, Trump has shown more proficiency in breaking deals than making them after pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris global climate pact and abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive multilateral trade deal.” His presidency is turning into “the art of the no deal.”

“Give some credit to President Trump.” He has broken “all convention, but it has created an opening to reduce the risk of nuclear war. The question as Mr. Trump prepares for his second summit with the North Korean is whether that mutual bonhomie can translate into tangible measures that actually reduce that risk. It hasn’t so far, notwithstanding Mr. Trump’s claims.”

“Trump’s delusional mind-set makes him a sitting duck for Kim to trade flattery (of Trump) for concessions (from Trump). Kim already achieved a level of respectability no other North Korean leader has attained—without a single meaningful and irreversible concession—simply by virtue of a summit that turned into a PR coup.”

“President Trump indefinitely postponed hiking tariffs on China” for one obvious reason. “Trump, or at least his advisers, seem to understand that progress on North Korea cannot be made without China’s support. And that support, of course, is unlikely to be born out of hostile trade disputes and demands to essentially rewrite China’s economic model, which the Trump administration has made clear are goals of trade negotiations with Beijing.”

“Persuading
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons will be a long
and grueling process that will require President Trump to make significant
concessions — and even then, the effort may fail.” Although Trump will want to “to
claim spectacular results,” it is likely that any real accomplishments will
only be found in “seemingly mundane details.”